chapter xx.
( the final exams )
"Fear of villains becoming more active due to the connection between Hero Killer: Stain and the League of Villains, huh?" Nezu said, glancing at the paper set in front of him.
The teachers of UA were having a meeting regarding the final exam of the students. They were originally going to have them fight against robots, but the decision was questioned because of the events that had happened over the past few weeks.
"Of course, it's best to stop it beforehand, but we want to be completely prepared," Snipe said. "If in the future there will be more combat against villains than what we see now, combat training against robots isn't practical.
"First of all, the robots used during the entrance exam were to avoid the complaints about whether anyone will be harmed during the entrance exam."
"We should just ignore those," Aizawa said, his arms crossed. "They just want to complain."
"It's not that simple," Midnight argued, turning her head to look at her colleague.
Cementoss spoke up. "We understand the change since the entrance exam, but pairing up the students to fight against us teachers is..."
"Yes, I think it'll be difficult," Thirteen said.
"We won't be able to grade them if we win too easily," Present Mic agreed.
"We're taking that into consideration, and we're going to give a handicap to the students," Snipe pointed out.
"What do you say, Principal?" Aizawa asked, glancing at the scarred mouse beside him.
"Whatever it is, I agree with changing the content of the final exam," Nezu sighed. "What do we need to do to prevent the students from facing any more danger?
"The answer is simple. The students need to become stronger."
Sounds of agreement came from the teachers, and Aizawa looked at the student profile he had in hand as he brought up another problem. "Now, about the pairings... the first is Todoroki. Overall, he's doing well, but he has the tendency to rely on brute force. Yaoyorozu is versatile, but she lacks in sudden decision making and application. So I'll erase their quirks and close in on their weaknesses with close combat."
"No objections," the teachers chorused.
"Next is Midoriya, Bakugou, and Kobayashi..." he looked at the information on the paper for each of the students, noticing the slight decrease in information on the ravenette compared to the other two.
"All Might, I'm counting on you."
All Might looked shocked.
"Regarding these three, I'm not grouping them together because of skill or grades. To put it simply, they don't get along. Kobayashi may communicate better with them individually and has more field experience than them, she isn't used to fighting in groups. Having the two on her team will put up a challenge for her."
Aizawa looked across the table and at the slowly weakening Symbol of Peace. "You favor Midoriya, don't you? Guide them well."
▪︎•▪︎•▪︎•▪︎
"Now, we will announce all the teams and their opponents," Nezu said, raising his hand.
Cementoss vs Sato and Kirishima
Ectoplasm vs Asui and Tokoyami
Power Loader vs Iida and Ojirou
Eraserhead vs Yaoyorozu and Todoroki
Thirteen vs Aoyama and Uraraka
Nezu vs Kaminari and Ashido
Present Mic vs Koda and Jirou
Snipe vs Shoji and Hagakure
Midnight vs Sero and Mineta
All Might vs Kobayashi, Midoriya, and Bakugou
They're pinpointing our weaknesses, Kobayashi thought as soon as she saw the first pairing, cupping a hand under her chin as she tried to predict the outcome of each match.
It seems that your match will be the most difficult one, for you are stuck with the two rivals in the class.
Yeah, no shit. They probably put me with those two because of the fact that I don't do well with teams. It'll be almost impossible for me to communicate with those two together if they're going to keep arguing.
"The time limit for each fight is 30 minutes," Nezu said. He held out a pair of handcuffs. "Your goal is to either put these handcuffs on your teacher, or make one of you escape the stage."
"Either capture or run away," Kaminari repeated, cupping his chin with his hand. "This is similar to combat training."
Is it really okay to run away?" Mina asked, raising her hand in the air a little.
"Yes," replied Nezu, nodding.
"But this isn't just any combat training," Present Mic said, mimicking a DJ scratching a disk. "You're opponent is of a very high rank."
"High rank?" Jirou questioned. "I don't think our opponent is that far above us."
"Watch you're mouth girl, will ya?!" Present Mic said, sounding very offended.
"This is very similar to real combat, so please treat us as actual villains," Thirteen said.
The corners of Keiko's mouth twitched upward a little. That won't be hard, considering I have quite a bit of experience with mock battles.
She thought back to when she and Aiko would spar as training for the sports festival. She had to treat him like a bad guy, which wasn't that difficult since they would always aim to kill each other. They took fighting against each other really seriously.
"Assume you come across a villain, and if you fight and win, that's good," Snipe spoke. "But..."
"If the difference between ability is too great," Aizawa continued, "it's wiser to run away and get help."
He and the ravenette made eye contact for a split second, and Keiko understood immediately.
"Iida, Todoroki, Midoriya, Kobayashi, you should know this."
Keiko inclined her head, huffing a little. I was raised to depend on no one but myself. Please stop telling me discreetly that my actions were reckless and stupid. Native would've been dead.
"I won't make the same mistake again," Iida muttered, his hand clenching into a fist.
"Either fight and win, or run away and win," Keiko hummed. It might sound easy, but in my case, running away seems to be the only sure option.
"Yes," All Might said, spreading out his large arms. "It will be a test of your judgement. But you probably think that running away is your only option, right?"
The hero reached a hand to his pocket and rummaged around. "We had the Support course make this for us!"
He brought out a band with black metal plates on it. "Super compressed weights!"
"Huh," Keiko said, glancing at her own wrists.
"Hatsume-san," Keiko called out to the pink-haired girl, who was busy making the suit she asked for.
Power Loader was having a break, and so she decided to accompany the young inventor and add in some improvisations as the suit was made.
"Yes?" Mei Hatsume turned around, her eyes wide behind her goggles as she awaited the statement of the girl.
"Do you mind putting weight on my costume?"
Mei hummed, smiling as she envisioned the look of the suit with the weights. "We could make a separate piece of clothing with a bit of weight, and you can remove it during battle if needed."
The girl was calm, in contrast to her usual bubbly and... "mad" personality. It seems that she was really focusing on the task at hand.
The girl removed the goggles and wiped the sweat off her face. "Ne, Kobayashi-san. Don't you think that this will hinder your performance on the field?"
Keiko smiled softly, pushing her hair back. "It might be a restraint, but it'll help me get stronger. The finals are coming up, after all."
Mei grinned maniacally. "Don't worry. This baby will definitely make you stronger, whether you're going up against the number one hero or Goku from Dragonball."
Keiko chuckled at the memory, stretching her arms a little and grunting from the weight. The jacket, the buckles around her calves, and the items on her wrists were weighed.
She decided to start small; the ones on her wrists and calves weighed five kilograms each, and her jacket weighed ten kilograms. There was a button that she could press for the weights on her wrists to come off without the support items falling off.
Each of the pro heroes brought out their weights and latched them onto their bodies.
"We'll be adding half our weight as a handicap," All Might said. "It's old school, but it makes it difficult for us to move around and it requires a lot of energy." All Might's arm dropped down a little from the added weight.
"So that means we'll be able to fight you?" Bakugou said calmly. "You underestimate us."
All Might let out a boom of laughter. The ravenette noted the discreet glint of the hero's blue iris.
"Okay, the practical exam will begin on the stage prepared for each team. Sato, Kirishima, get ready."
"Hai!"
"The others can watch the exams, strategize with your teams, do whatever," their homeroom teacher said, turning around and joining the other teachers. "That's all."
I think this will be the best time for us to converse in your mindscape.
Yeah. We're going to need to strategize and stuff.
Keiko turned to her left, where she spotted Midoriya's attempt to talk to Bakugou, but the ash blonde simply walked away.
"I'll be in the monitoring room if you need me, Izuku," Keiko said, stuffing her hands into the pockets of her pants as she sauntered away.
"Ah, Kobayashi-san, I'll come with you!" Midoriya jogged after her.
Keiko sighed, but she didn't say anything, making the walk to the monitoring room silent, but oddly comforting. It seemed that they were both drenched in their own thoughts, but only one of them had only their own voice in their head.
The door slid open and they entered, staying in different parts; Keiko sat cross-legged on one of the chairs on the side, while Midoriya stayed standing in front of the screens that showed each of the training grounds.
Midoriya frowned a little when he found that the girl was making no move to communicate with him. Passing this exam would be impossible if they don't strategize together; Midoriya thought Keiko would know that.
She might be strategizing on het own. She doesn't really seclude herself from nervousness, but I can't know for sure. She's different from the person she was in junior high, and I haven't really gotten a chance to connect with her since she came.
The girl closed her eyes and took a deep breath, calming her heart and entering her mindscape, the sound of the door opening once more now distant in her ears.
She heard the ruffling sound of grass, and she opened her eyes, finding herself in the field she always appeared in.
The field's landscape changed a little bit, though; probably because of her anxiousness for her match against All Might. it was much bumpier, with uneven patches of ground here and there.
Squinting her eyes a little bit from the soft glare of the sun overhead, she scanned the area, trying to spot the familiar blue-haired man that spoke in her head not too long ago.
She found him on top of a hill to her right, sitting on a bench set under a tree with plenty of leaves shielding him from the sun.
She stood up and walked to meet him. She didn't really want to disrupt the peaceful atmosphere with her voice. Climbing up the hill with ease, she sat on the vacant spot beside Astran.
"I assume that you have a lot to talk about, Keiko," Astran said, still looking ahead at the rest of the field.
"Yeah, and not only about the upcoming match, but also about me," Keiko said, crossing her legs.
"You may ask your questions, and I will try my best to answer them," The man said, turning to face his old friend's descendant.
"Why is the Neon quirk going to end with me?" She asked. She didn't want to waste any second on unnecessary topics. "Why didn't it end with my grandparents, when they found out that my mother was quirkless?"
There was a moment of silence as the young god pondered this question. "It was told by the gods that the last descendant of Orion would be a girl, stronger than even him. Your grandparents thought that the word of the gods was wrong, for their daughter ended up quirkless, but it is possible that the gods simply deemed her unworthy to hold the power of Neon."
"Did you have any say in it?" Keiko questioned. "I mean, you're basically the source of this power. Don't the gods even think to consult you about it, ask for your opinion or whatever?"
Astran chuckled. "You make the gods sound like mortals; caring and open. In reality, millions of years on the top of the universe may... alter your values. We become selfish, arrogant."
The man ruffled the girl's hair. "Besides, I am not the source. The power varies from the host. I am simply the guardian of the gates that hold in the power, while each person is given a different key. It just depends on how strong your will is. If it is strong enough, you do not need me to use your power to help others, like you have been doing for the past three years."
Keiko sighed. "I still have more questions, and yet I feel a little overwhelmed already.
"Why didn't you stay with my mom? You told me before that when Orion died, you transferred yourself into his son. Why didn't you do the same thing to Mom?"
"My bond with Orion was a... special case," Astran said, running a hand through his hair as he thought back to his first mortal friend. "That time, I could willingly transfer myself into someone else, but the gods just allowed me to do that as bait. They told me that they would strike me down if I try to leave Orion's body, and so they didn't bind me to him just to make fun of me, telling me that I could not have freedom because of my fear of death.
"When Orion died, I was afraid that I would have faded away, so I transferred into Scorpio and bound myself to his blood, which is why I am not anymore able to change to a host that does not have Scorpio' blood in their veins. I would fade."
Keiko frowned, not really understanding what her guardian was saying. "That doesn't answer my other question. Mom has Scorpio's blood. You can still transfer."
Don't get her wrong; she loves Astran, but it just seemed illogical for her to be "the Chosen One" or whatever. Why would the Neon quirk end with Keiko when Suki was clearly the candidate, except for the fact that she was quirkless?
Astran, being Astran, read her like an open book, shaking his head as he dismissed her thoughts with a wave of his hand. A soft smile graced his lips.
"You think too much. All that matters now is that you have the power, not her. We will have to start strategizing in order to pass this exam of yours."
Keiko nodded, letting the topic change to battle strategies.
Little did the supernatural being know, Keiko was actually putting up a wall between him and her thoughts as they talked.
It's possible to block off her thoughts from him when they're in the mindscape; one of tbe only moments she can think to herself.
She knew Astran was hiding something from her, and there's a big chance that what he was keeping from her wasn't pretty.
▪︎• ▪︎•▪︎•▪︎
After many matches, the time finally arrived for their match. Midoriya was going out of the monitoring room, but he spotted Keiko, seemingly asleep.
Midoriya almost stopped his approach when he scanned her face.
Her posture was void of its usual tension; her expression was relaxed, almost serene. In Midoriya's eyes, it was definitely the most vulnerable expression he'd seen on her, and that was saying a lot. Whether it be with Bakugou and his friends or her waiting for Shinso of 1-C in front of the door to the roof, she always had a guarded expression. Her smiles would be relaxed, but her eyes were always drifting, observing and calculating and predicting any outcome. It was a nice change.
If only it would stay that way, even for a short while.
Hesitantly, Midoriya brought up a hand up, and tapped lightly on the girl's shoulder.
"Kobayashi-san," Midoriya said softly. "It's our match."
The girl remained unresponsive, and so the greenette planted a hand on her shoulder and shook her.
Keiko's eyes snapped open, flashing in blinding white as she grabbed Midoriya's hand on her and twisted it.
Midoriya's eyes widened in surprise. "Kobayashi-san, it's me!"
Keiko blinked, and the glow in her orbs faded, once again revealing her gold rings. Miraculously, the others in the room didn't hear his cry.
"Shit," Keiko said, letting Midoriya free. "Fuck, I'm so sorry. I'm still not used to be woken up by other people."
Midoriya gave her a strained smile. "It's okay. Our match is about to begin."
Keiko nodded, and Midoriya watched the calm expression fade and the usual attentive glint return to Keiko's eyes.
It was like watching someone put on a mask, and it hurt Midoriya that Keiko seemed to not trust him enough to show a different side of her.
Slowly, Midoriya thought, trailing behind the girl as she tugged the hood of her jacket over her head. Slowly, she'll start to trust us.
▪︎•▪︎•▪︎•▪︎
"Team Midoriya, Bakugou, and Kobayashi. Practical exam. Start."
Bakugou immediately started walking forward, leaving the other two with no other choice but to follow.
This is where the difficulty starts.
We must share our strategies with the other two in order for us to pass the exam.
Easier said than done. I have to find out how to drill it through Bakugou's skull.
Hesitation flashed across Midoriya's face for a second, before he jogged to catch up with his childhood friend.
"Kaachan, during this exam, the teachers are the villains and we're the heroes, so we need to consider the villains's combat abilities and choose to either run away or fight. But in our case, All Might is our villain. I think fighting him would be really dangerous and foolish —"
Bakugou didn't spare him a glance as he quickened his pace.
"Kacchan, wait!"
"Don't follow me!"
Keiko groaned and matched her stride with Midoriya's. "Bakugou, if we keep this up, we're gonna run into All Might and we'll have no choice but to fight. We have to make a detour before —"
"Why the fuck do we have go run away?" Bakugou said harshly. "It'll be better if we beat him up of course."
"We have to avoid combat with All Might!"
"We'll lead him on a chase then when he's exhausted, I'll beat him up."
"That's a stupid plan," Keiko commented as Midoriya stopped walking. "You have to take to consideration the strength and speed of the opponent. All Might also has years of experience, while you don't even have one. It's better to avoid him and get through the gate."
"Who do you think All Might is?" Midoriya said desperately as he ran to catch up with the two. "Even with a handicap, you won't be able to beat him —"
Bakugou swung him arm back, making his bulky green grenade hit Midoriya's face, sending him to the ground.
"Don't speak to me," Bakugou said menacingly. "Don't speak to me because you're feeling pretty good. You make me fucking angry."
"Hey!" Keiko rose her voice a little. "This is a fucking team battle, you stupid pomeranian. If you want to win, you're winning with our efforts, whether you like it or not."
Bakugou rounded on the ravenette. "Since when have you been on his side, eh?"
Keiko rolled her eyes. "I've been on his side ever since you told him to take a swan dive of a building. But at the moment, you're going to have to put aside your rivalry with him if you want to win."
If this boy resorts to violence to get what he wants, I will not hesitate to slap the fuck off him.
"Wait, Kacchan! I'm saying this so we can pass the exam. Listen to me Kacchan!"
"Like I said, you're power isn't necessary to pass!"
"Stop yelling at me! This is why we can never have a normal conversation!"
"SHUT UP!" Keiko boomed, and the two quieted down at once. It sounded like she wasn't the only one telling them to shut up.
Astran seemed to be fed up with the antics of Keiko's two junior high friends.
"You," she pointed at Bakugou, "as I said, this is a team. Whether you're the fucking leader or not, we're helping you. That. Is. Final.
"And you," she turned to Midoriya, "raising your voice won't help you drill into his head. Work around him. If he won't adjust, you adjust."
Keiko, the air current has changed. The villain had already made his move.
"Get down!" Keiko shot both her chains onto the ground, but it didn't do much to stop the strong gust of wind that destroyed part of their mock city.
The piece of concrete that she anchored onto flew off, taking her with it and they got sent back several feet, putting a healthy amount of distance between her and the rivals.
"Packapunch," Keiko groaned, retracting the chain and pushing the concrete off of her. She stood up and dusted herself off.
"Who cares about damaging the city?" All Might's villanous voice rang out from the cloud of dust in front of the trio.
The villain stomped his foot on the ground, sending dust to their faces.
"You'll get hurt if you think of this as just an exam." His blue eye glinted. "I'm a villain, heroes. Come at me with all you've got."
Thank you All Might for provoking the bomb.
"We can't fight him," Midoriya said. "Let's run!"
"Don't tell me what to do, Deku!" Bakugou turned to All Might with his arm outstretched, his other hand reaching for the pin on his grenade. "Stun Grenade!"
Keiko turned away from the blinding light. "Go, Izuku! I'll deal with him! We need only one person to cross the line!" She shouted over the explosions going off from behind her.
Keiko didn't wait for him to leave before she turned back to the two.
She saw All Might slam Bakugou's face to the ground, and so she took advantage of his turned back on her and shot a blast of neon as quick as she could.
All Might easily dodged it, wrapping his hand around her throat and appearing behind Midoriya as he threw her carelessly but harshly to the side.
She barreled through the window of one of the buildings, her weighed jacket protecting her back from any shards.
With some colorful words escaping her mouth, Keiko rose to her feet and vaulted over the windowframe.
You have minor scratches on your arms.
Don't heal them. I need to save energy for later.
"Are you going to leave your teammates behind, young Midoriya?"
Keiko scanned the area, looking for their other teammate.
She saw Bakugou shooting his way towards All Might from behind. "Oh, that's not good."
They're going collide, she thought, when she saw Midoriya's stance change into one indicating his retreat backwards.
Keiko bent down and leaped forward, Astran adding a little more power at the last second of her feet's contact with the ground.
With a little more speed than usual, Keiko sped towards the two. "Watch your back!"
Keiko pushed Midoriya out of the way, and Bakugou's eyes widened, but it was too late. "Move!"
The air got knocked out of Keiko's lungs as Bakugou's form hit hers. It felt bad; like there was lava spilling from the part that was hit. Keiko's mind blurred a little, and she wasn't able to send a message to Astran for him to heal her. She just hoped that he sees how much it can affect her performance.
Keiko landed on her feet, clutching her side, as her other two teammates laid on the ground.
This is much more difficult than it needs to be because of this guys intent of defeating All Might.
They both stood again, Bakugou slowly making his way to All Might while Midoriya tries to stop him once more.
"Move," Bakugou growled.
"There's no way to defeat him by a direct attack!" Midoriya protested as Keiko approached them once more, her airway freeing up a little as Astran did his work.
"I'm going to win," the ash blonde says.
"Cause that's... that's what a hero does."
[ author's corner ]
I'M BACK FROM THE DEAD!
i'm sorry for the late update, I wasn't really feeling well. I also wasn't able to write this chapter properly, so I present to you a half-assed one.
You'll be getting a full scope of the fight next update, and all the juicy stuff happens there.
Thank you for your patience and see you next time!
- R